The global stock markets fell sharply on Thursday, while the price of oil jumped after President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” during an address providing updates on the ongoing war in the Middle East.

During a roughly 20 minutes televised speech on Wednesday, Mr Trump said the American military operation in Iran was nearing completion but signalled the U.S. is prepared to intensify its military attacks on the Islamic Republic in the remaining projected two or three weeks of action. 

Like it was since the over one month period of the war, the global market immediately reacted following Mr Trump’s comments, with the price of oil rising from below $100 on Wednesday to above $108.95 per barrel on Thursday. 

In the stock markets, the S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent in early trading in New York on Thursday after the index gained 0.7 per cent the previous day, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.4 per cent.

The Stoxx 600, a broad European index, was down by 1.5 per cent as of Thursday, the stocks in South Korea experienced 4.5 per cent dipped, with markets in Britain, France and Germany also falling. 

“Our trading desk describes the market as nervous rather than panicky,” Kit Juckes, a strategist at the bank Société Générale told The New York Times. 

Shipments of energy from the Middle East have been disrupted since the start of the war in February after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, with Mr Trump telling countries experiencing fuel shortages to proceed to open militarily.

“To those countries that can’t get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran… build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait and just take it. The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won’t be taking any in the future. We don’t need it,” the American leader said.